‘Sophisticated’ new Chinese hacking tool found, spurring US warning to allies
- Cybersecurity firm Symantec says the malware, which it calls Daxin, has been used to target high level, non-Western government agencies in Asia and Africa
- Researchers say the discovery is noteworthy because of the scale of the intrusions and the advanced nature of the tool
Security researchers with US cybersecurity firm Symantec said they have discovered a “highly sophisticated” Chinese hacking tool that has been able to escape public attention for more than a decade.
The discovery was shared with the US government in recent months, who have shared the information with foreign partners, said a US official. Symantec, a division of chip maker Broadcom, published its research about the tool, which it calls Daxin, on Monday.
“It’s something we haven’t seen before,” said Clayton Romans, associate director with the US Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). “This is the exact type of information we’re hoping to receive.”
CISA highlighted Symantec’s membership in a joint public-private cybersecurity information sharing partnership, known as the JCDC, alongside the new research paper.
The JCDC, or Joint Cyber Defence Collaborative, is a collective of government defence agencies, including the FBI and National Security Agency, and 22 US technology companies that share intelligence about active cyberattacks with one another.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Chinese officials have previously said China is also a victim of hacking and opposes all forms of cyberattacks.
